NHS chiefs are to brief key stakeholders groups and borough leaders on proposals for the future of community healthcare in Hinckley.

Four dates have been set to allow representatives from the West Leicestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to share their vision.

It follows a number of public meetings last year during which local people were asked to outline their healthcare priorities.

The CCG, which provides and procures health services for the Bosworth area and beyond, has inferred the ageing Hinckley Hospital on Mount Road is to close.

However, a firm resolution on this has remained elusive, with the CCG maintaining if the public want to keep Mount Road then it will stay open.

The first event is on Monday February 29 from 10am to 11.30am at the Atkins Building in Lower Bond Street Hinckley and is targeted at key stakeholders.

The next is on Monday March 14 at the Hinckley Hub from 2pm when CCG members will be at a meeting of the Older Voices Forum. The forum is an open group aimed at anyone aged over 50 in the borough who wants to speak up on health and community issues.

Two more key stakeholder events take place on March 31 at the Atkins Building and April 27 at Hinckley Hub.

Councillor Amanda Wright (Con, Burbage Sketchley and Stretton) said she was concerned many residents were still unaware of what the CCG was proposing and the potential effect on local health services.

Cllr Wright, who is health champion for the borough, added: “Although the CCG says it has conducted a ‘consultation’ on this matter and ‘engaged’ with more than 2,000 people in the borough, very few people in the community and who I daily engage with seem to be aware of any of this.

“Even more concerning is that I can not get a straight answer on whether the Mount Road Hospital is to be closed. The people of the borough deserve to know this information and the CCG should be open and transparent.

“The CCG needs to offer reassurance on this instead of talking in esoteric terms about provision of services. We need to know a quantifiable list of services we have now and what the CCG is proposing locally going forward. Only then will we able to compare apples with apples.”

Hinckley and Bosworth Community Hospital

Cllr Wright said the gist as she understood it was that Mount Road would close with some services transferred either to the health centre or Ashby Road while others could be lost.

Any closure and sale of the Mount Road site would not provide funds for a replacement facility, she warned while she believed the CCG were reluctant to expand Ashby Road.

She said: “We need to fight for our local health services and ensure that we have a good local infrastructure for our families. I would urge anyone who engages with health services to attend one or all of the above public sessions so that you as the public can hold the CCG to account.”

Cllr David Bill (Lib Dem, Clarendon) also expressed his concern over the ongoing uncertainty, saying: “It is very difficult trying to get a clear answer from anyone as to what is planned for the future of hospital services in Hinckley or indeed across the county. The NHS is arguably the most important of all our public services as in the end every single one of us is going to depend on it sooner or later. We owe it to ourselves and our families to ensure that it is properly equipped and staffed.

“What is not at all clear is what is happening in Hinckley itself. A few years ago Don Wright and I as the county councillors for Hinckley took part in a number of exercises when we were asked our views about potential changes.

“At that time the intention appeared to be to move services from Mount Road to the Community Hospital on Ashby Road. Nothing came of these talks and last year a similar exercise took place when a number of people were invited to an event at the Golf Club when much the same thing was again discussed.

“I now understand that there is about to be a series of new consultation events although it is not clear just who has been invited. In my view this affects everyone of us and I hope that as many people will attend as possible.”

A CCG spokesman said a formal public consultation was to be held soon.